JAMESTOWN — As director of the food service operation at James River Correctional Center, Brian Burow said a little mentoring helps with managing inmate workers who make around 800 meals daily for the prison and adjacent North Dakota State Hospital.

“They work hard and do a wonderful job,” Burow said of the inmates, now called residents by the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The medium security prison adjacent to the State Hospital opened in 1998, and Burow transitioned the contracted food service into an internal food program in 2008. Today, 14 staff and 72 resident workers use the former State Hospital kitchen to cook for JRCC with an agreement to also provide the hospital meals.

“Brian and the staff do a great job making very good meals for a low cost, but as importantly, they do a great job working with the residents,” said JRCC Warden Chad Pringle. “Making them good workers and giving them good work skills is a huge part of what they do.”